Acupoint Sensitization, Acupuncture Analgesia, Acupuncture on Visceral Functional Disorders, and Its Mechanism

Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Guest Editors: Xiaochun Yu, Bing Zhu, Zhixiu Lin, Haifa Qiao, Jian Kong, and Xinyan Gao

Acupoint Sensitization, Acupuncture Analgesia, Acupuncture on Visceral Functional Disorders, and Its Mechanism

Guest Editors: Xiaochun Yu, Bing Zhu, Zhixiu Lin, Haifa Qiao, Jian Kong, and Xinyan Gao

Copyright © 2015 Hindawi Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved. is is a special issue published in “Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine .” All articles are open access articles distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Editorial Board

Mona Abdel-Tawab, Germany Jon Adams, Australia

Shun-Wan Chan, Hong Kong

Filippo Fratini, Italy

Il-Moo Chang, Republic of Korea Brett Froeliger, USA
Gabriel A. Agbor, Cameroon Ulysses P. Albuquerque, Brazil S. L. Aleryani, USA
Chun T. Che, USA Kevin Chen, USA Evan P. Cherniack, USA Salvatore Chirumbolo, Italy
Maria pia Fuggetta, Italy Joel J. Gagnier, Canada Siew Hua Gan, Malaysia Jian-Li Gao, China Mary K. Garcia, USA Susana Garcia de Arriba, Germany D. G. Gime´nez, Spain
Ather Ali, USA M. S. Ali-Shtayeh, State of Palestine Jae Youl Cho, Republic of Korea

Gianni Allais, Italy

K. B. Christensen, Denmark

Shuang-En Chuang, Taiwan

Terje Alraek, Norway

Shrikant Anant, USA Isabel Andjar, Spain
Y. N. Clement, Trinidad and Tobago Gabino Garrido, Chile

Paolo Coghi, Italy

Ipek Goktepe, Qatar

Letizia Angiolella, Italy Virginia A. Aparicio, Spain Makoto Arai, Japan Hyunsu Bae, Republic of Korea Giacinto Bagetta, Italy Onesmo B. Balemba, USA Winfried Banzer, Germany Panos Barlas, UK

Marisa Colone, Italy

Michael Goldstein, USA

Yuewen Gong, Canada Settimio Grimaldi, Italy Gloria Gronowicz, USA Maruti Ram Gudavalli, USA Alessandra Guerrini, Italy Narcis Gusi, Spain
Lisa A. Conboy, USA Kieran Cooley, Canada Edwin L. Cooper, USA Olivia Corcoran, UK Muriel Cuendet, Switzerland Roberto K. N. Cuman, Brazil Vincenzo De Feo, Italy Roc´ıo De la Puerta, Spain Laura De Martino, Italy Nunziatina De Tommasi, Italy Alexandra Deters, Germany Farzad Deyhim, USA
Svein Haavik, Norway Solomon Habtemariam, UK Abid Hamid, India
Vernon A. Barnes, USA Samra Bashir, Pakistan Purusotam Basnet, Norway Jairo Kennup Bastos, Brazil Sujit Basu, USA
Michael G. Hammes, Germany Kuzhuvelil B. Harikumar, India Cory S. Harris, Canada Jan Hartvigsen, Denmark ierry Hennebelle, France Lise Hestbaek, Denmark Eleanor Holroyd, Australia Markus Horneber, Germany Ching-Liang Hsieh, Taiwan Benny T. K. Huat, Singapore Roman Huber, Germany Helmut Hugel, Australia Ciara Hughes, UK

Arpita Basu, USA

Manuela Di Franco, Italy

George David Baxter, New Zealand Claudia Di Giacomo, Italy Andre´-Michael Beer, Germany Alvin J. Beitz, USA
Antonella Di Sotto, Italy M.-G. Dijoux-Franca, France

Luciana Dini, Italy

Louise Bennett, Australia

Maria Camilla Bergonzi, Italy Anna R. Bilia, Italy
Tieraona L. Dog, USA Caigan Du, Canada
Yong C. Boo, Republic of Korea Monica Borgatti, Italy Francesca Borrelli, Italy Gloria Brusotti, Italy
Jeng-Ren Duann, Taiwan Nativ Dudai, Israel omas Eﬀerth, Germany

Abir El-Alfy, USA

Attila Hunyadi, Hungary

Sumiko Hyuga, Japan

Arndt Bu¨ssing, Germany

Rainer W. Bussmann, USA Andrew J. Butler, USA Gioacchino Calapai, Italy Giuseppe Caminiti, Italy Raﬀaele Capasso, Italy Francesco Cardini, Italy Opher Caspi, Israel
Tobias Esch, USA Giuseppe Esposito, Italy Keturah R. Faurot, USA Yibin Feng, Hong Kong Nianping Feng, China Patricia D. Fernandes, Brazil Josue Fernandez-Carnero, Spain Antonella Fioravanti, Italy Fabio Firenzuoli, Italy Peter Fisher, UK
H. Stephen Injeyan, Canada Chie Ishikawa, Japan Angelo A. Izzo, Italy Chris J. Branford-White, UK Suresh Jadhav, India G. K. Jayaprakasha, USA Stefanie Joos, Germany

Zeev L Kain, USA

Subrata Chakrabarti, Canada

Pierre Champy, France

Osamu Kanauchi, Japan

Wenyi Kang, China

Karin Meissner, Germany

Albert S Mellick, Australia A. G. Mensah-Nyagan, France Andreas Michalsen, Germany Oliver Micke, Germany Roberto Miniero, Italy Giovanni Mirabella, Italy David Mischoulon, USA Francesca Mondello, Italy Albert Moraska, USA
Cheppail Ramachandran, USA

Elia Ranzato, Italy

Shao-Hsuan Kao, Taiwan

Juntra Karbwang, USA Kenji Kawakita, Japan Deborah A. Kennedy, Canada C.-H. Kim, Republic of Korea Y. C. Kim, Republic of Korea Yoshiyuki Kimura, Japan Toshiaki Kogure, Japan Jian Kong, USA
Ke Ren, USA Man H. Rhee, Republic of Korea Luigi Ricciardiello, Italy Daniela Rigano, Italy Jose´ L. R´ıos, Spain Paolo Roberti di Sarsina, Italy Mariangela Rondanelli, Italy Omar Said, Israel
Tetsuya Konishi, Japan Karin Kraﬅ, Germany Omer Kucuk, USA Victor Kuete, Cameroon Yiu W. Kwan, Hong Kong Kuang C. Lai, Taiwan Ilaria Lampronti, Italy Lixing Lao, Hong Kong Christian Lehmann, Canada Marco Leonti, Italy
Giuseppe Morgia, Italy Mark Moss, UK
Avni Sali, Australia Mohd Z. Salleh, Malaysia Andreas Sandner-Kiesling, Austria Manel Santafe, Spain
Yoshiharu Motoo, Japan Kamal D. Moudgil, USA Yoshiki Mukudai, Japan Frauke Musial, Germany MinKyun Na, Republic of Korea Hajime Nakae, Japan Srinivas Nammi, Australia Krishnadas Nandakumar, India Vitaly Napadow, USA Michele Navarra, Italy Isabella Neri, Italy Pratibha V. Nerurkar, USA Karen Nieber, Germany Menachem Oberbaum, Israel Martin Oﬀenbaecher, Germany Junetsu Ogasawara, Japan Ki-Wan Oh, Republic of Korea Yoshiji Ohta, Japan
Tadaaki Satou, Japan Michael A. Savka, USA Claudia Scherr, Switzerland G. Schmeda-Hirschmann, Chile Andrew Scholey, Australia Roland Schoop, Switzerland Sven Schro¨der, Germany Herbert Schwabl, Switzerland Veronique Seidel, UK
Lawrence Leung, Canada Shahar Lev-ari, Israel Xiu-Min Li, USA Chun G. Li, Australia Min Li, China
Senthamil R. Selvan, USA Felice Senatore, Italy Hongcai Shang, China Ronald Sherman, USA Karen J. Sherman, USA Kuniyoshi Shimizu, Japan Kan Shimpo, Japan Yukihiro Shoyama, Japan Morry Silberstein, Australia K. N. S. Sirajudeen, Malaysia Graeme Smith, UK Chang-Gue Son, Republic of Korea Rachid Soulimani, France Didier Stien, France Con Stough, Australia Annarita Stringaro, Italy Shan-Yu Su, Taiwan Barbara Swanson, USA Giuseppe Tagarelli, Italy O. Taglialatela-Scafati, Italy Takashi Takeda, Japan Ghee T. Tan, USA
Bi-Fong Lin, Taiwan Ho Lin, Taiwan Christopher G. Lis, USA Gerhard Litscher, Austria I-Min Liu, Taiwan Yijun Liu, USA V´ıctor Lo´pez, Spain omas Lundeberg, Sweden Filippo Maggi, Italy
Olumayokun A. Olajide, UK omas Ostermann, Germany Siyaram Pandey, Canada Bhushan Patwardhan, India Berit S. Paulsen, Norway Philip Peplow, New Zealand Florian Pfab, Germany Sonia Piacente, Italy
Valentina Maggini, Italy Gail B. Mahady, USA Jamal Mahajna, Israel Juraj Majtan, Slovakia Francesca Mancianti, Italy Carmen Mannucci, Italy A.-M. Manuel, Spain Fulvio Marzatico, Italy Marta Marzotto, Italy James H. McAuley, Australia Kristine McGrath, Australia James S. McLay, UK
Andrea Pieroni, Italy Richard Pietras, USA Andrew Pipingas, Australia Jose M. Prieto, UK Haifa Qiao, USA Waris Qidwai, Pakistan Xianqin Qu, Australia E. Ferreira Queiroz, Switzerland Roja Rahimi, Iran
Hirofumi Tanaka, USA Lay Kek Teh, Malaysia Norman Temple, Canada
Lewis Mehl-Madrona, USA

Peter Meiser, Germany

Khalid Rahman, UK

Mayank akur, Germany Menaka C. ounaojam, USA Evelin Tiralongo, Australia Stephanie Tjen-A-Looi, USA Michal Tomczyk, Poland Loren Toussaint, USA Yew-Min Tzeng, Taiwan Dawn M. Upchurch, USA Konrad Urech, Switzerland Takuhiro Uto, Japan
Giuseppe Venturella, Italy Pradeep Visen, Canada Aristo Vojdani, USA Dawn Wallerstedt, USA Shu-Ming Wang, USA Chong-Zhi Wang, USA Yong Wang, USA Jonathan L. Wardle, Australia Kenji Watanabe, Japan J. Wattanathorn, ailand Michael Weber, Germany Silvia Wein, Germany
Darren R. Williams, Republic of Korea Christopher Worsnop, Australia Haruki Yamada, Japan Nobuo Yamaguchi, Japan Ling Yang, China Junqing Yang, China Eun J. Yang, Republic of Korea Ken Yasukawa, Japan Albert S. Yeung, USA Armando Zarrelli, Italy Chris Zaslawski, Australia Ruixin Zhang, USA
Sandy van Vuuren, South Africa Alfredo Vannacci, Italy Subramanyam Vemulpad, Australia Janelle Wheat, Australia

Carlo Ventura, Italy

Jenny M. Wilkinson, Australia

Contents

Acupoint Sensitization, Acupuncture Analgesia, Acupuncture on Visceral Functional Disorders, and Its

Mechanism, Xiaochun Yu, Bing Zhu, Zhixiu Lin, Haifa Qiao, Jian Kong, and Xinyan Gao Volume 2015, Article ID 171759, 1 pages

Inﬂuences of Deqi on Immediate Analgesia Eﬀect of Needling SP6 (Sanyinjiao) in Patients with Primary Dysmenorrhea in Cold and Dampness Stagnation Pattern: Study Protocol for a Randomized

Controlled Trial, Yu-qi Liu, Peng Zhang, Jie-ping Xie, Liang-xiao Ma, Hong-wen Yuan, Jing Li, Chi Lin, Pei Wang, Guo-yan Yang, and Jiang Zhu Volume 2015, Article ID 238790, 6 pages

Acupuncture for Functional Dyspepsia: A Single Blinded, Randomized, Controlled Trial, Yulian Jin,

Qing Zhao, Kehua Zhou, Xianghong Jing, Xiaochun Yu, Jiliang Fang, Zhishun Liu, and Bing Zhu Volume 2015, Article ID 904926, 9 pages

Discovery of Acupoints and Combinations with Potential to Treat Vascular Dementia: A Data Mining

Analysis, Shuwei Feng, Yulan Ren, Shilin Fan, Minyu Wang, Tianxiao Sun, Fang Zeng, Ping Li, and Fanrong Liang Volume 2015, Article ID 310591, 12 pages

Eﬀects of Deep Electroacupuncture Stimulation at “Huantiao” (GB 30) on Expression of Apoptosis-Related Factors in Rats with Acute Sciatic Nerve Injury, Lili Dai, Yanjing Han, Tieming Ma,

Yuli Liu, Lu Ren, Zenghua Bai, and Ye Li Volume 2015, Article ID 157897, 8 pages

Function of Nucleus Ventralis Posterior Lateralis alami in Acupoint Sensitization Phenomena,

Pei-Jing Rong, Jing-Jun Zhao, Ling-Ling Yu, Liang Li, Hui Ben, Shao-Yuan Li, and Bing Zhu Volume 2015, Article ID 516851, 6 pages

Analysis and oughts about the Negative Results of International Clinical Trials on Acupuncture,

Wei-hong Liu, Yang Hao, Yan-jing Han, Xiao-hong Wang, Chen Li, and Wan-ning Liu Volume 2015, Article ID 671242, 14 pages

Eﬃcacy of Acupuncture in Children with Nocturnal Enuresis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

of Randomized Controlled Trials, Zheng-tao Lv, Wen Song, Jing Wu, Jun Yang, Tao Wang, Cai-hua Wu, Fang Gao, Xiao-cui Yuan, Ji-hong Liu, and Man Li Volume 2015, Article ID 320701, 12 pages

Regulation of Neurotrophin-3 and Interleukin-1ꢀ and Inhibition of Spinal Glial Activation Contribute to the Analgesic Eﬀect of Electroacupuncture in Chronic Neuropathic Pain States of Rats, Wenzhan Tu,

Wansheng Wang, Haiyan Xi, Rong He, Liping Gao, and Songhe Jiang Volume 2015, Article ID 642081, 9 pages

Brain Network Response to Acupuncture Stimuli in Experimental Acute Low Back Pain: An fMRI

Study, Yu Shi, Ziping Liu, Shanshan Zhang, Qiang Li, Shigui Guo, Jiangming Yang, and Wen Wu Volume 2015, Article ID 210120, 13 pages

Eﬀect of Repeated Electroacupuncture Intervention on Hippocampal ERK and p38MAPK Signaling in

Neuropathic Pain Rats, Jun-ying Wang, Shu-ping Chen, Yong-hui Gao, Li-na Qiao, Jian-liang Zhang, and Jun-ling Liu Volume 2015, Article ID 641286, 10 pages

Eye Acupuncture Treatment for Stroke: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, Zeng-Hua Bai,

Zhi-Xing Zhang, Chun-Ri Li, Mei Wang, Meong-Ju Kim, Hui Guo, Chun-Yan Wang, Tong-Wu Xiao, Yuan Chi, Lu Ren, Zhong-Yue Gu, and Ran Xu Volume 2015, Article ID 871327, 11 pages

Eﬀect of Acupuncture on Functional Connectivity of Anterior Cingulate Cortex for Bell’s Palsy Patients

with Diﬀerent Clinical Duration, Hongli Wu, Hongxing Kan, Chuanfu Li, Kyungmo Park, Yifang Zhu, Abdalla Z. Mohamed, Chunsheng Xu, Yuanyuan Wu, Wei Zhang, and Jun Yang Volume 2015, Article ID 646872, 7 pages

e Study of Dynamic Characteristic of Acupoints Based on the Primary Dysmenorrhea Patients with the Tenderness Reﬂection on Diji (SP 8), Sheng Chen, Yanhuan Miao, Yinan Nan, Yanping Wang, Qi Zhao,

Enhui He, Yini Sun, and Jiping Zhao Volume 2015, Article ID 158012, 9 pages

Hindawi Publishing Corporation Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine Volume 2015, Article ID 171759, 1 page http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/171759

Editorial

Xiaochun Yu,¹Bing Zhu,¹Zhixiu Lin,²Haifa Qiao,³Jian Kong,⁴and Xinyan Gao¹

¹Institute of Acupuncture, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, 16 Nanxiaojie, Dongzhimen, Beijing 100700, China ²School of Chinese Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong ³Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Florida State University, 1115 W. Call Street, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA ⁴Massachusetts General Hospital, Building 120, 2nd Street, Suite 101C, Charlestown, MA, USA

Correspondence should be addressed to Xiaochun Yu; [email protected] Received 14 May 2015; Accepted 21 May 2015 Copyright © 2015 Xiaochun Yu et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Our special issue, which had opened for 6 months in the second half of 2014, focused on acupoint sensitization, acupuncture analgesia, acupuncture for visceral modulation in gastrointestinal systems, acupuncture for modulation of brain function, acupoint combination treatment of insomnia and gastrointestinal disorders, and nonspecific and specific effects of acupuncture based on stimulation intensity. blinded, randomized, controlled trial on acupuncture treatment of functional dyspepsia and found that acupuncture manipulation exhibited better effects on improving dyspeptic symptoms, mental status, and quality of life in patients with FD than nonacupoint without manipulation.
In general, we have papers involving clinical trials, data mining analysis or study protocol, and basic research in press, which thoroughly meet the expectation of our initial call for papers of this issue.
Of these papers in press, S. Chen et al. reported that the location and tenderness of Diji (SP8) were not the same in healthy subjects as in dysmenorrheal patients, suggesting dynamic and sensitivity of acupoints under different pathological status. S. Feng et al. did data mining analysis on acupoints or combinations for treatment of vascular dementia and gave suggestions for acupoint selection based on the most commonly used formulas. L. Dai et al. performed basic research in a sciatic nerve injury rat model and found that deep EA stimulation is better in improving neuromuscular function and benign regulation of apoptosis-related factors than shallow EA. J. Wang et al., based on their previous study that hippocampal mAChR-1 participating in MARK signaling was involved in EA induced cumulative analgesia in neuropathic pain rats, observed in their present study that EA2W was closely related to the cumulative analgesia via intracellular ERK and p38 MARK signaling. P. Rong et al. observed that, in anesthetized rats, EA on ST36-ST37 could enhance nucleus ventralis posterior lateralis thalami neuronal discharges which were fired by CRD-induced visceral pain. eir study indicates that acupoints may be sensitized under visceral disorders. Y. Jin et al. conducted a single

Acknowledgments

We thank all authors for their excellent contributions and reviewers for their valuable help. e Lead Guest Editor would like to thank the ﬁve Guest Editors for their dedicated cooperation. We hope the special issue will bring readers useful academic reference in their research.

Xiaochun Yu
Bing Zhu Zhixiu Lin Haifa Qiao Jian Kong Xinyan Gao

Hindawi Publishing Corporation Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine Volume 2015, Article ID 238790, 6 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/238790

Research Article

Influences of Deqi on Immediate Analgesia Effect of Needling SP6 (Sanyinjiao) in Patients with Primary Dysmenorrhea in Cold and Dampness Stagnation Pattern: Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

Yu-qi Liu,^1,2Peng Zhang,^1,3Jie-ping Xie,^1,4Liang-xiao Ma,^1,4Hong-wen Yuan,⁵Jing Li,¹Chi Lin,¹Pei Wang,¹Guo-yan Yang,¹and Jiang Zhu^1,4

¹School of Acupuncture Moxibustion and Tuina, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, China ²Institute of Basic Research in Clinical Medicine, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China ³Beijing Tongren Hospital Aﬃliated to Capital Medical University, Beijing 100730, China ⁴e Key Unit of State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Evaluation of Characteristic Acupuncture erapy, Beijing 100029, China
⁵School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100069, China

Correspondence should be addressed to Jiang Zhu; [email protected] Received 22 August 2014; Revised 9 November 2014; Accepted 19 November 2014 Academic Editor: Xinyan Gao Copyright © 2015 Yu-qi Liu et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Deqi, according to traditional Chinese medicine, is a specific needle sensation during the retention of needles at certain acupoints and is considered to be necessary to produce therapeutic effects from acupuncture. Although some modern researches have showed that Deqi is essential for producing acupuncture analgesia and anesthesia, the data are not enough. It is a paper of a multicenter, randomized controlled study protocol, to evaluate the influences of Deqi on acupuncture SP6 in Cold and Dampness Stagnation pattern primary dysmenorrhea patients, in terms of reducing pain and anxiety, and to find out the relationship between Deqi and the temperature changes at SP6 (Sanyinjiao) and CV4 (Guanyuan). e results of this trial will be helpful to explain the role of Deqi in acupuncture analgesia and may provide a new objective index for measuring Deqi in the future study. is trial is registered with

ChiCTR-TRC-13003086.

1. Introduction

the response of brain [5, 6]. For acupuncturists, they can feel a change of the mechanical behavior of the tissues surrounding the needle, such as an increase of the force necessary to pull the needle out of the tissue (pullout force) [7]. Although some modern research showed that Deqi is essential for producing acupuncture analgesia and anesthesia [8], new evidence to confirm the conclusion is still urgently needed [9, 10].
Primary dysmenorrhea (PD) refers to painful menstrual cramps without any evident pathology. It is characterized by crampy suprapubic pain with radiation into the lower quadrants, the lumbar area, and the thighs [11]. PD is a common gynecological complaint and significantly affects study, work, sports, and social activities [12–18]. So far nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or oral contraceptive
Deqi, according to records in both ancient and modern books of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), is a specific needle sensation which usually occurs during retention of acupuncture needles at certain acupoints, and both patients and acupuncturists can feel the Deqi sensation. It is regarded as a necessary factor for producing effects from acupuncture following traditional Chinese medicine theory. Patients can feel Deqi as multiple sensations at the needling acupoints and along the meridians sometime, such as soreness, numbness, distension, or a minimal muscular contraction around the needle [1–3] and also objective physiological changes, such as the skin temperature changes at the acupoints [4] or

2

pills (OCPs) are widely advocated as standard treatments for women with PD [19, 20]. However, acupuncture as nonpharmacological approaches has great potential value.
Acupuncture is one of the main treatment modalities of
TCM. Several trials [21, 22] have already demonstrated the encouraging results of acupuncture as a nonpharmacological option for the treatment of PD. Two systematic reviews also demonstrated the effect [23] and cost-effectiveness [24] of this therapy. e acupoint SP6 (Sanyinjiao) is found to be one of the most commonly used points encountered when searching ancient Chinese medical classics, Chinese acupuncture textbooks, and clinical trials using acupuncture-related therapies for PD [25, 26]. Previous randomized controlled trials have showed that acupuncture at SP6 (Sanyinjiao) can relieve the pain of PD immediately [27–29] especially for PD patients with Cold and Dampness Stagnation pattern [30], which is the most common pattern in PD patients [31, 32]. Langevin’s study [7] also showed that, compared with the nonacupoint control group, the average pullout force in SP6 (Sanyinjiao) was greater, which suggested that SP6 (Sanyinjiao) might be especially sensitive in Deqi.
In this study, we will perform a randomized controlled trial using SP6 to investigate the influences of Deqi on immediate analgesia effects in PD patients with Cold and Dampness Stagnation pattern. e primary objective of this trial is to evaluate the influences of Deqi on acupuncture therapy, in terms of pain reduction (measured on a 0–100 mm visual analogue scale for pain (VAS-P)) achieved before and aﬅer intervention (i.e., before and aﬅer 30 minutes of treatment). e secondary objectives are as follows: (1) to evaluate the influences of anxiety reduction on a 0–100 mm visual analogue scale for anxiety (VAS-A) and (2) to evaluate the influences of temperature changes at SP6 (Sanyinjiao) and CV4 (Guanyuan) acupoints monitor by a digital infrared thermographic imaging device (only in the Dongzhimen Hospital). calculating sample size for further studies. Assuming a dropout rate of 20%, we will plan to enroll a total of 96 participants with 48 in each group.